The Decomposition of Jack by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb. 5 stars!. Middle Grade Fiction, 208 pages, 2022

Let’s talk about roadkill. Who picks it up? What happens to the remains? What if you were in middle school and known as Roadkill Kid or Jack Splat because you helped your mom shovel the bloody carcasses off the road? And what if you then took those specimens to your back yard and took notes on how they decomposed every day for your mom’s research?

Jack is dealing with a lot. His dad has left and he’s trying to hold his mom together while also pushing down his own confusion and anger. He has his first crush. He has discovered a cougar just past their back yard.

I’ve never loved and been so grossed out by a book before. On the back , Margaret Peterson Haddox says, “This book is disgusting-and I mean that as a compliment!” And I couldn’t agree more.

It’s also very funny while still dealing with tough things. I’m not sure I’ll ever get the image of a ham in the church collection plate out of my head.

Gage and I read this together and we learned so much. This would be a fabulous science class read! On a more practical note, it mentioned a bone collector who sold roadkill bones on Etsy. We spent a good hour laughing at the amount of bones we found sold on Etsy. Reading the descriptions and reviews was a hoot.

This was 5 🦴 ❤️for me.